The First and the Second (Flying Solo Outtake)

A/N This is an M-version of Chapter 5 of my current wip Flying Solo. Check it out if you're interested. I haven't beta'd this so all the mistakes are mine alone. :)

Katniss struggled to put in the hoop earrings she'd borrowed from Jo, her heels tapping against the tile floor in the combination kitchen/living room of the apartment she and Prim were sharing with her brazen, opinionated friend.

Fifteen-year-old Prim was stretched out on the floor watching a Dawson's Creek marathon.

"Dawson or Pacey?"

"Dawson," Prim replied.

Katniss held her hand up in Prim's face. "Don't talk to me. We are not sisters." Prim giggled. "Order the pizza from Mario's around the corner," she instructed as she moved across the space toward Prim. "He does a 12-inch, three topping pie for $15. I left you the money on the counter and we'll eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow."

Prim jumped up from her spot on the floor. "I can handle it, Katniss. Rue will be here in a few minutes. We'll have some pizza, watch TV for a while and then I'll crash across the hall at her place."

"OK, but if you have any trouble, I'll have my cell on. If I don't answer, try Jo. If that doesn't work, send me a text."

"Katniss, will you stop? Everything will be fine here. You haven't had a night out since I moved in six months ago. You look amazing, by the way," she said.

Katniss tugged uncomfortably at the tight black skirt. She knew the modest red sleeveless top looked great against her olive-toned skin, but she felt like an imposter in the mini-skirt Jo had shoved at her while simultaneously telling her to "dress like a female for once." Katniss had shut the door in Jo's face, but she'd put on the skirt. Appropriate underwear had been more of a problem, but Katniss had decided to be practical. Nobody would know.

"You should wear your hair down more often," Prim said as she peered closer at her sister. "Hey, did Johanna give you smoky eyes? Jo, no fair," she called out over Katniss's shoulder, her voice uncharacteristically whiny. "I asked you to do smoky eyes for me and you said you couldn't do it."

"Couldn't do that to the male population at your school, Kiddo," Jo drawled as she leaned on the frame of the door to her room. "If a chick as gorgeous as you showed up with smoky eyes, they'd be your slaves for life." Prim gave a throaty chuckle as Jo joined them at the apartment door. Her jeans were slung low on her hips and her cropped shirt exposed her navel ring. "Anyway," she said, her glossy red lips forming a snarl as she strapped her feet into a pair of sparkly high-heeled sandals, "Brainless here needs all the help she can get." She stood up. "Stay out of trouble, all right?"

Prim laughed again and flopped onto the sofa, grinning impishly at the two of them. "Don't worry, Jo. I won't do anything you wouldn't do."

Jo gave her a shameless wink. "That doesn't leave a hell of a lot, Kiddo. I'd feel better if you'd just promise to act like Brainless on an average Friday night."

Prim gave an exaggerated sigh. "Booo-ring!"

Katniss rolled her eyes. Having Prim in the apartment had soften Jo's edges and brought Katniss out of her shell, but when the two of them ganged up on her, it was best just to go with the flow. "We'd better get downstairs. The cab will be here soon."

"Have fun, you two!"

The cab ride over to the south side of the city where the party was being held only took 15 minutes and before Katniss knew it, she was standing in front of a row house in a student neighbourhood. Dance music was pouring from the windows. Katniss licked her lips nervously. "So give me the low-down on how you know this guy again?"

"Finnick's in my lit class," she said as she dragged Katniss up the stairs. "He's a drama major. His parents are loaded or something and they bought this place for him. He rents out the bedrooms to other students to cover the mortgage. He's seriously hot, Brainless, so do not embarrass me tonight." Jo barked the last sentence like an order as she swung open the door to the house. They had barely shut it behind them when they were met by a gorgeous man whose bronze hair was deliberately coiffed into a state of permanent bed head.

"Jo! You made it," he said, pulling her into a hug before holding her at arm's length and sweeping her entire body in a single, smoldering gaze. "You look… delicious."

"Finn! You look… hungry," said Johanna, slipping easily into his game. "This is my roommate, Katniss."

"Come on in, Sugar." Their host grinned at her. "Drinks are in the kitchen."

Jo and Katniss wove their way through the crowd of bodies to the kitchen at the back of the house where Finnick said a keg hand been tapped. Katniss noticed bodies pressed close and dancing in the living room. A boisterous game of beer pong had started on the dining room table. The atmosphere was more relaxed in the kitchen where the music wasn't as loud. Students leaned against the counters laughing and talking about friends and classes they had in common.

"I'm going into the living room," Jo said in her ear when her cup was full. "I'm gonna bust out my moves and see if I can lure Finnick into dancing with me. You wanna come?" Katniss shook her head, deciding to hang out in the kitchen and maybe check out the game in the dining room. She was backing away from the keg with a full cup, when she bumped into a solid body behind her.

"Whoa, steady there." She felt a guy's hand at her hip and turned around to make sure that it was returned to its rightful owner.

"Peeta!"

"Katniss? Oh my God! It's really you!" The next thing she knew, Katniss was being enfolded in an exuberant hug. She closed her eyes and breathed him in; spicy cologne and something else that was male and uniquely his. He grabbed her by the hand and led her over to the breakfast nook tucking himself into the corner and pulling her in beside him. "This is so wicked. I thought I might never see you again," he enthused, his blue eyes dancing. She could tell he'd been drinking just enough to drop his guard.

"So, uh, hey. It's good to see you too." She sipped her beer. What was it about this guy that made it impossible for her to say anything intelligent?

Peeta reached out and fingered a lock of her hair before tucking it behind her ear. "You look so hot. I mean, gorgeous. No, you were gorgeous at prom. This..." He scanned her quickly up and down before fixing his gaze back on her face. "This is off the charts. You look so hot. Amazing, I mean. Amazingly hot." They both blushed and laughed. Peeta looked away, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck. "I'm usually pretty good with words," he admitted, "but between the beer and shock of seeing you again, I'm not doing so well."

Katniss laughed again. "You're doing fine. Better than me," she said, his fumbling sweetness giving her confidence she didn't know she had. "You look great too." It was true, and not only because the polo shirt he was wearing matched the colour of his eyes or because his jeans were worn in all the right places and hugged his hips just right. He seemed happier than she remembered from their days in high school. Not that she'd never known Peeta to be unhappy, exactly. He'd always been laughing and surrounded by friends, but tonight it seemed as though he'd put down a burden that she hadn't known he was carrying. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Culinary school. I cut a deal with my parents. Four years and then I'll come home and work in the bakery like a good boy until they retire. My mother is complaining about the cost, but Dad supported me, so here I am." He shrugged and took a long swallow from his cup. "I'm working part time as a prep cook and a pastry chef at a nice restaurant not far from here. I thought the experience would be good and I'm using the cash to pay for some fine arts classes at State."

Katniss stared at him in surprise. "Fine art? Painting and drawing you mean? I didn't know you did that."

He shrugged. "I didn't talk about it at school. I didn't think it would do much for my rep as a wrestler and my mother thinks it's a total waste of time. This way I can learn more and she has nothing to say about it."

"I thought I was busy. I'm taking environmental engineering and working part time in a bar, keeping an eye on Prim." She took another drink, watching Peeta over the top of her cup. He seemed to be distracted by a freckle on her shoulder, reaching out with an index finger to lightly draw circles around it. Normally, Katniss would have shrugged another person's hands off her, but her skin was tingling under his touch, so she said nothing.

"And now you're sitting in my kitchen." He smiled softly.

"Your kitchen?"

"I answered an ad that Finn put up on a bulletin board on campus. This place is close to the culinary school, on the bus route to State and not far from the restaurant, so it's perfect. Plus, Finn is great and the other guys are cool too."

"How long have you been here?"

"Here in this house? Since September. I lived in the dorm at the culinary school last year." Circle, circle.

Katniss had a hundred questions; starting with, why haven't I seen you around? At a party? At the grocery store? Why haven't you come into the Hob like virtually every other student on campus? But she said nothing else. She just lifted her cup to her lips.

"You know," he said, clearing his throat, but continuing to focus his attention on the freckle. "I drove all over town that night, looking for you. I was worried about you. I wish you'd let me drive you home."

Katniss put her cup down on the table, and stared down into the beer. "I needed to be alone," she said just loud enough for him to hear it. "I was so embarrassed."

"But not by me," he said, sliding closer to her. The finger circling her shoulder turned into a thumb stroking the back of her neck. Peeta took her chin with his other hand and turned her face to look at him. Their lips were only inches apart.

"No." Her voice sounded husky. "Not by you."

Peeta stroked her cheek and leaned closer still. "Did I miss my chance?" Katniss could feel his breath on her face. She licked her lips, preparing to bring an end to years of longing by closing the gap between them.

The door to the kitchen swung open. Music and laughter poured into the room, startling them back to an awareness of their surroundings. They sat back, but Peeta slid his arm around Katniss's shoulders. She fought with her body to keep it from melting against him.

"Peet! Look at you, chatting up a hottie! I didn't know you had it in you, man," Finnick wiggled his eyebrows at them on his way to the keg. Katniss tried to move away, but Peeta's hand on her shoulder held her gently, but firmly in place. Finnick slid onto the bench across from them. His sea green eyes were dancing. Katniss couldn't help thinking that he had to be one of the most stunning men she'd ever seen. No wonder Jo was so interested.

Peeta remembered his manners. "Finn, this is Katniss Everdeen. She's from Panem too."

Finnick grinned at Katniss. "We've met. Having fun, beautiful?" He raised her hand, kissing her knuckles like a chivalrous knight and then burst into laughter. "Peet! You should see your face. Relax, man. I've already got my hands full holding off Katniss's equally hot friend in the other room."

"My roommate," Katniss explained to Peeta. She turned back to Finn with one eyebrow cocked over a silver eye. "She's a piece of work. She'll have you wrapped around her little finger in no time."

Finnick laughed again. "She is certainly trying, but this heart," he said melodramatically clutching his chest, "already belongs to my Annie. Well, I better mingle." He winked at them. "Do me a solid, Sugar, and tell your girl in there that I'm unavailable." Finn wandered off to the dining room and a cheer broke out around the beer pong table.

Katniss frowned. "He's got a girl?"

Peeta nodded. "Annie. I haven't met her yet. She lives in Florida where they grew up. Finnick is crazy about her. They're moving to California as soon as he graduates in the spring."

"I guess I should tell her," she sighed, sliding off the bench to pull her phone from her pocket. She quickly texted Jo.

KATNISS: Hey, having fun? (10:41 p.m.)

JO: Oh yeah! Where r u? (10:42 p.m.)

KATNISS: Still in the kitchen with a friend from Panem. Any luck with Finn? (10:42 p.m.)

JO: Not sure where he went (10:43 p.m.)

Katniss bit her lip, considering her response. Jo couldn't know he'd asked her to do this. She'd be humiliated.

KATNISS: Prolly 4 the best. I hear he's got a GF anyways. Not worth the drama! (10:45 p.m.)

JO: Oh Brainless, it absolutely would. But I don't poach. (10:46 p.m.)

Katniss slipped her phone back in her pocket. "Sorry about that."

"Mission accomplished?"

Katniss nodded. "Well, I should get another drink," she said, turning toward the keg.

Claiming he needed a refill too, Peeta slid out of the booth behind her, and took her hand again. Katniss looked down at their entwined fingers in surprise and he looked sheepish. "I guess I'm being kind of handsy, huh?"

He was, but she wasn't sure she minded, so she just shrugged. "I'll allow it."

"You'll allow it?" At her nod, Peeta's face lit up in a happy grin that did odd things to her stomach. "I let go of you over a year ago, and you disappeared. I'm a little afraid of how long it will be before I see you again if you walk away this time."

She felt a flash of anger and tried to pull her hand away after all. She was not going to allow him to blame her for the worst night of her life. "I didn't disappear, Peeta. I was in Panem that whole summer. You knew I'd just lost my two best friends and how embarrassed I was. But you didn't call. Not even once."

Katniss watched as the impact of her words washed away the playful, affectionate boy with whom she'd spent the last hour, and turned him into someone else; someone more serious and much more vulnerable than she would have expected.

"Katniss, can we talk? I've wanted to say some things to you for a long time." Katniss gave Peeta an expectant look. "Not here," he said. "I have an idea, come on."

Peeta led her through the crowd back to the living room at the front of the house. As they walked up a staircase, Katniss felt a buzzing in her pocket, but her stomach was so full of butterflies that she ignored it. They stopped at a door at the end of the hall and Peeta fumbled with a key in the lock.

"I don't usually keep this door locked but Finn said I should tonight, just in case," he said, opening the door and flicking on the light. He gestured her inside, but Katniss stayed rooted to the floor outside the door.

"You brought me to your room."

Peeta blushed and stammered. "Well, yeah. I mean, it's the first place that I thought of." His hand returned to the back of his neck while he poked at the doorjamb with his toe. It reminded Katniss of a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar, even more so when he peeked back up at her. "I just blew it, didn't I?" She just looked at him. "I'd never hurt you, Katniss, but I get it. We can just talk out here if you want. It's private enough."

She still didn't answer him. Instead, she gave into her curiosity and stuck her head inside the room. It was different than the boys' rooms in the co-ed dorm where she'd lived with Jo the year before. He had the requisite beer and sports posters over his desk. His wrestling trophies lined the window sill. There was dust and clutter and what looked to be a pile of dirty laundry in the closet, but nowhere did she see a poster of a naked girl, or even a swimsuit model. Instead, Peeta's walls were his art gallery.

Without thinking, she stepped inside. "Are all of these yours?" She marvelled at the huge modern piece hanging on the longest wall. "I love this," she said, enthusiastically, peering at the brushstrokes and the layers upon layers of colour. "What do you call it?"

"Sunset." And suddenly, she could see it. The yellow ball sinking below a thick dark uneven line representing horizon, the deep orange stretching and streaking across the canvass, growing ever lighter as it reached into a darkening sky.

There were others. A detailed painting of the woods back home. A portrait of his family. A still life of a loaf of bread fresh from the oven on a table next to green bottle stuffed haphazardly with dandelions. An impressionist-style painting of a girl in a green dress, leaning against a rail as she stared up at the night sky with her back to the artist and her chestnut hair streaming down her back.

Katniss looked at him with wide eyes. His pleaded for understanding as he stepped up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, his explanation pouring out of him in a rush.

"The assignment was to paint a moment you'll never forget in the impressionist style. And… well, that's the first thing I thought of. I followed you out of the gym that night, Katniss. I was desperate for a chance to be alone with you. Even if it was only for five minutes. I can't tell you how much I wanted to ask you to go to that dance with me." Katniss inhaled as a frisson of shock ran down her spine. He took her hands again. "I'd tried for years to work up the nerve to talk to you, to get to know you better so that I could ask you out, but I never could, and then it was graduation and I thought I'd missed my chance."

"Why didn't you?" Suddenly, Katniss realized she was glad they were alone in his room. She wanted to close the shutters and lock the world out.

One corner of his mouth crooked up. "You have no idea, the effect you have on me. I could barely say 'excuse me' to you when we passed in the hallway. Anyway, everyone thought you were dating Hawthorne."

"I was watching you too," she admitted. "But you were so popular and athletic. There were so many girls interested in you that I just figured you'd never look at someone like me."

His hands left her own, gliding up her forearms until the stopped just below her elbow. "You were the only girl I was really interested in."

"Come on, you didn't notice any other girls?"

He grinned at her impishly. "Oh, I noticed just about all of the girls, but none of them made a lasting impression but you."

Katniss didn't know who moved first, but they were so close now that their bodies were almost touching. He took her chin in his hand and lifted her eyes to his. She trembled as her heart flipped over.

"I couldn't believe my luck that night. I finally had you in my arms. I was going to get the chance to tell you how I felt about you and I thought there was a remote possibility that maybe you liked me too. I was going to drive you home and hold your hand the whole way there and if you'd let me kiss you good night…" His voice trailed off as he stroked her cheek.

"If what, Peeta?" He swallowed and shook his head. "I guess I'll just have to fill in the blanks myself." She took Peeta's face in her hands and closed the space between them. She felt Peeta freeze in shock as their lips met and she was afraid she'd made a mistake. Maybe he didn't want this after all. Maybe she'd completely and irreparably screwed this up. Then Peeta moaned and gave himself over to the kiss, wrapping her tightly in his arms, parting her lips with his tongue.

Katniss felt her blood pounding in her ears as her hands slid along his jaw and into his hair. It was coarse and thick and tangled in her fingers. Katniss had kissed guys before, and it had been pleasant enough, but it had never felt like this. It had never made her hunger for more. She lost herself in the sensation of his tongue sliding against her own, his hands stroking her back. But before long, she felt Peeta take control of himself and step back. He held her hands and took a deep breath. His lips were swollen and his face flushed. Katniss's heart was racing. She stepped toward him.

"Wait," he gasped. Oh God, she had messed this up.

"What's wrong?"

"You asked me a question, downstairs. I want to answer it." He sat down on his bed and patted the space beside him. She sat down on the edge, more nervous than she thought possible.

"You wanted to know why I never called or came to see you." She nodded. "Well, Katniss, think about it. When you walked out that night, you didn't just walk out on Gale and Madge. You walked out on me too." Katniss felt the floor drop out from under her. She'd been so angry, so hurt, she hadn't once considered how it must have looked to Peeta. "I called out to you," he said. "I chased you out of that gym and begged you to wait, but by the time I got out to the parking lot, you were gone."

Katniss wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm so sorry, Peeta. I'd embarrassed you in front of your friends. People were staring at us. I needed to get out of there."

Peeta put his arm around her in comfort and she laid her head on his shoulder. "You didn't embarrass me in front of my friends. Delly did that, but not you. My friends were really pissed for us. Nothing would have happened with them to back us up. But then you left and I couldn't find you. I looked for you all night, but I wasn't even sure you'd get in the car. I didn't know if you'd ever talk to me again. Besides, the phone works both ways. You could have called me, you know, or come by the bakery."

"Your mother hates me."

"My mother hates everybody." They both burst out laughing and when Katniss turned her face to Peeta's she found herself staring at his lips. He traced hers with the pad of his thumb. "Katniss, I'm going to kiss you now and I'm going to warn you that I've wanted to do this for so long that I might not want to stop. I will if you ask me to, I promise. But if I'm not what you want, let's go downstairs right now and forget that I ever said anything."

She knew that she wouldn't want to stop, but she thought it only fair that she warn him too. "I've been told that I'm not very good at this."

"You seemed pretty good at it before. Maybe you just weren't with the right person."

She remembered the hunger she'd felt only a little while before. "Let's find out," she whispered.

Peeta's heart was in his lips when they met hers, sweet, soft and full of promise. He held them there, briefly, before raining soft kisses across her cheeks, over the bridge of her nose to the other side. He kissed her forehead, her chin. When he finally brought his lips back down to hers, she heard, rather than felt, the sigh that escaped her lips and he took that moment to slip his tongue alongside hers. Soon, her hands returned to his hair, pulling him into her, demanding more. Eventually, she needed to catch her breath, and she lifted her mouth from his to nip along his jaw and worry his earlobe with her teeth. Peeta began to place a line of kisses along her neck and when he met where it joined with her collar bone, Katniss gasped and whimpered before kicking off her heels and turning her body so that she straddled his lap. His hands reached down to cup the cheeks of her rear end and pull her to him.

Her mini skirt had hiked up past her hips and when his hands met bare flesh, he raised his head and looked at her with wide eyes. "Katniss?"

She shrugged. "This skirt is really form fitting and I hate thongs."

With an agility born from years of wrestling, Peeta twisted his body and tossed her beneath him so that he was lying between her legs. He was hard and ready for her. His eyes were dark and full of fire. "You've been sitting beside me all night with nothing on under that skirt?" She gave a throaty chuckle and shrugged again. Peeta groaned and lowered his head to her chest. "You're trying to kill me."

His fingers slipped under the hem of her silk top and began sliding it up her belly. His lips followed behind it, kissing along the top of her skirt, circling her navel with his tongue and then along her sternum to the wire of her bra. He looked up at her then, seeking her approval, and meeting no resistance, slid the top over her head and threw it onto the floor before pulling off his own. Katniss reached her hand out to stroke his chest. His body was broad and strong. Fine blonde hair covered his breast bone and travelled down his belly in an ever thinning line until it disappeared inside his jeans. When skin met skin for the first time, each of them marvelled at how the reality of them together was so much better than they imagined separately.

Katniss watched as he gazed down at her before using his lips to begin a journey along the cups of her red silk bra. "You're so beautiful," he breathed against her skin. Their mouths met again, as he slid her bra straps off of her shoulders and reached behind her to unfasten it but found nothing.

"Here," she said, flicking the jewelled clasp between her breasts, and the bra fell open to him. He placed a kiss where the jewel had been before cupping each of them, rubbing the dusky peaks with his thumbs and causing her to whimper and thrust her hips against the fly of his jeans. When Peeta's mouth replaced his thumb, Katniss's whimper turned into a deep-throated moan as she held his head in place and rubbed against his hardness. His hand drifted down her side, over the skirt bunched and twisted around her waist to stroke her hip before skimming toward her centre.

He raised his head and his eyes were gleamed like sapphire. "Still OK?" She nodded. "Tell me what you want."

She had to wrench it out. "Touch me, Peeta. Please."

Katniss closed her eyes and arched her neck as his fingers slipped down between her folds, exploring her gently, watching for her reaction. Her eyes flew open and she cried out when he found her clit.

"There?" he asked, still carefully gauging her response. She nodded and spread her legs further to give him better access. His fingers began moving in steady circles around the little ball of nerves. "God, Katniss, you are so wet." She moaned again and began to move her hips in time with his ministrations. She tried to reach for the button of his jeans, so that he could share in the pleasure but he pulled away. "Not yet," he said. "I've imagined this a million times and I want to make it last."

He returned his mouth to her breast and Katniss felt rational thought fade away as all focus centred on that spot at her core that compressing ever tighter, coiled like a spring, eager for release. She was writhing against his hand, her breath shallow when she felt the wave wash over. "Peeta, I'm coming," she called out. At her words, Peeta plunged two fingers inside her, curving them so that they nearly touched the thumb that continued to stroke her clit. She twisted the comforter in her hands as her back left the bed. He covered her mouth with his own to swallow her scream.

She opened her eyes when she came back to Earth, and he was still watching her. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction and crooked grin on his face. He nudged her head aside with his own so that he could kiss her neck. "I thought you said you weren't any good at this," he whispered mischievously.

Katniss pulled her head away so that she could gaze at him across the pillow. "I haven't done much of anything yet," she said, quirking up one eyebrow and reaching out to tickle his side. Peeta gave a little yelp and let go just long enough for Katniss to jump off the bed and slither out of what was left of her clothing. She crawled back onto the bed on her hands and knees. With him below her, she leaned in for a fast, hot kiss and then scowled.

"You have too many clothes on," she complained. Her lips and tongue blazed a trail along his neck and down his chest to his bulging jeans. She clutched at him through the fabric and he groaned. With more confidence than she thought she possessed, she flicked them open and pulled them and his boxer briefs over his hips and down to his knees. Peeta promptly kicked them and his socks to the floor. Giving him a sly grin, she slithered back up his body and brought her lips back to his. She could feel his cock pulsing against her belly and she sat up so that she could take him in hand and bring him the pleasure he had shown her. He watched her swirl her thumb over its moist tip before sliding her hand down and squeezing firmly at the base. He gave a short moan of pleasure before sitting up and kissing her deeply.

"That's not the way I want this to end. You'll allow it?"

"Yes."

"Tell me."

"Make love to me, Peeta."

He fell back against the pillows, reaching into his nightstand and pulled out a foil package. Katniss took it from him and quickly sheathed him. He rose back up and carefully cradled her head in his hands, once again kissing her softly before guiding her back down to the bed. He hovered above her watching her face as though committing it to memory and then slowly filled her. Katniss watched his head fall back in pleasure and then he joined his hands with her own above his head. He kissed her deeply and then whispered in her ear. "Fuck, Katniss. You feel so good."

They began to rock, joined in every place possible, gaining speed as they sped toward a finish line in race neither had expected they would run. Every thrust sent a quick thrill through Katniss's body, still thrumming from her earlier release. Faster, harder, more. Peeta sat back on his heels, changing the angle to bring her more pleasure and reached down to stroke her clit again. Katniss felt the pleasure building inside her again. Her entire body was poised to leap off the cliff.

"Are you ready?" she asked him. He nodded. "Come with me this time," she begged, and with another thrust they fell together.

Peeta awoke to the sun streaming in the window. At some point in the night, he and Katniss had crawled under the covers and she had curled up on his chest, her hand over his heart. She was still there, breathing softly, her naked body pressed against his own. Her dark hair glowed in the morning light and he stroked the top of her head before running his fingers through the locks as far as he could reach. She murmured and nestled closer, causing his heart to swell in his chest.

He had finally stopped imagining them together, stopped looking for her around every corner, only to find her standing in his home last night. And now in his bed. It defied belief. But it was real. And now that he had her, Peeta allowed himself to hope that they were together at last. A couple in love. At least, one of them was, because he was a goner and had been since he was five years old.

When she finally woke, her grey eyes were still full of dreams. Her smile was sleepy, if a bit shy. Sex three times in one night could do that to a girl, he supposed. "Hi."

Peeta kissed her forehead. "Hi yourself."

"I can't remember the last time I slept that well. What time is it?"

Peeta looked over her head to the clock on his bedside table. "Umm. About 9:30."

Her eyes became as round as moons and she jumped out of bed. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" She rummaged through the pile of clothes they'd left on the floor and turned up her skirt

Peeta sat up in bed, bewildered. "Katniss, what's wrong?"

"I've gotta go home. Prim will be home any minute. I can't let her catch me coming in after being out all night." Katniss shimmied into the skirt and then reached down for her bra and blouse.

Peeta started to throw back the covers. "Ok. Just give me a minute to get dressed. I'll take you home."

"No!" She almost shouted it. Peeta sat back, alarmed, watching as she hurriedly threw on the rest of her clothes.

"No, Peeta. That'll just make it worse. No. I'll just hail a cab downstairs. Where the hell is my phone?" She found it blinking on the floor and flicked it open. Eight messages from Jo.

JO: Who's the hottie? (10:55 p.m.

JO: F say that was Peeta? THE PEETA? (11:28)

JO: U hooking up with him? Heading home soon (11:42 p.m.)

JO: Going home. (11:59 p.m.)

JO: U need 2 call/txt me! (2:08 a.m.)

JO: U broke our rule. Worrying. (5:27 a.m.)

JO: Calling cops if u not home soon (9:00 a.m)

"Damn. Jo is freaking out. I've really gotta go. What's your cell number?" Peeta dictated the number to her and then heard his phone buzz over on his desk. "There, now you've got mine. Call me, OK?" She rushed back to the bed, brushed his lips with her own, and then she was gone.

Peeta watched his bedroom door close while the glow of happiness that had been surrounding his heart faded away and his chest started to ache. He dropped back down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. For the second time in his life, he'd held the girl of his dreams in his arms and then watched her rush away because of another man. Why in the hell hadn't she told him about Joe?